by Sam Amick, USA TODAY Sports

by Sam Amick, USA TODAY Sports

The NBA's golden era for point guards continued to be tarnished on Friday night when Los Angeles Clippers coach Doc Rivers announced that Chris Paul will be out three to five weeks with a right shoulder injury suffered in a win against the Dallas Mavericks.

Anyone who has watched the Clippers in action during the three seasons with Paul in town knows of the profound value he brings to their group, an impact that's up there with the likes of fellow injured point guards like Boston's Rajon Rondo, Oklahoma City's Russell Westbrook and Chicago's Derrick Rose. But just to pound the, um, point, we present a trivia question: Who trails Paul in the Clippers' assist category as the second-ranked playmaker?

That's right. It's power forward Blake Griffin (three per game).

Paul is the end-all-be-all of the Clippers offense, as he was averaging a league-high 11.3 assists per game (second-most in his nine-year career) while scoring at a rate nearly three points higher per game this season than last (19.6 compared to 16.9). There's a reason Paul is always in the MVP discussion so long as the Clippers are winning games, as his individual value in respect to his team is up there with the likes of Miami's LeBron James. In fact, a strong argument can be made that the Heat have a much better chance of surviving for a stretch without James than the Clippers do without Paul.

Unfortunately, we're about to find out, as the Clippers (23-12) have a road showdown against the reigning Western Conference champion San Antonio Spurs on Saturday followed by a homestand against the Magic, Celtics, Lakers and Mavericks. An MRI will be needed to reveal the extent of Paul's injury, so the breath-holding and finger-crossing for Rivers & Co. will continue until then. He is expected to be re-examined on Sunday and Monday in Los Angeles, with an update on the injury and his recovery schedule coming on Monday.

The Clippers are 9-9 without Paul during his time with the Clippers, and now his duties will be left to Darren Collison while he's out. The veteran who took a bargain-basement deal last summer for the chance to contend with the Clippers (two years, combined $1.9 million) is averaging 8.1 points, 2.0 assists and 18.4 minutes in 34 games off the bench this season (one start). His latest outing against the Mavericks was a good place to start in this new challenge, as he finished with a season-high 20 points on 6-of-10 shooting and doubled his assist rate (four).

Paul was playing some of the best basketball of his already-impressive career, which makes his absence ill-timed in every way. Rivers had said all along that this group would need to build chemistry throughout the regular season, with the hope of peaking come playoff time and surging until the end. Yet now, with teams like the Golden State Warriors streaking (eight consecutive wins, one game behind the Clippers in the West) and so many others in the West looking fully capable of threatening their playoff position, it's merely a matter of survival for the Paul-less Clippers.